Shall  Theoretical  and  Practical  Agriculture 
and  the  Physical  Development  of  Child¬ 
hood  Be  Added  to  the  Curriculum 
of  the  City  Public  Schools? 


A  PAPER  READ  AT  A  MEETING  OF  THE 

American  Association  for  Advancement  of  Science 

HELD  IN 

MINNEAPOLIS,  MINNESOTA 
December  28,  1910 


UMVcHsi  ?y 


or  ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 


CONTAINING  MAP  OF  A  PROPO  Sfcf&Rig  ULT 
PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  PARK 

ILLUSTRATIVE  PICTURES 


^HOOLAND 


By  A.  B.  STICKNEY 

CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  ST.  PAUL  CITIZENS’  COMMITTEE 

CONSISTING  OF  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  CITIZENS 
TO  PLAN  A  COMPREHENSIVE  SYSTEM 
OF  PARKS 


saint  paul: 
McGill-Warner  Co. 

1910 


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SHALL  THEORETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL  AGRICULTURE 
AND  THE  PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHILD- 
HOOD  BE  ADDED  TO  THE  CURRICULUM 
OF  THE  CITY  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS? 


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Since  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  invention  and  use 
of  labor  saving  machinery  have  wrought  a  wonderful  change  in 
the  problems  of  the  City  Public  Schools. 

Then  child  labor  was  necessary  to  produce  a  stingy  livelihood 
for  the  family.  Now  the  use  of  labor  saving  machinery  makes 
a  day’s  labor  of  the  adult  so  effective,  that  child  labor  is  not  only 
unnecessary,  but,  if  permitted,  it  becomes  a  menace  to  the  labor 
of  the  adult. 

Then  the  parents’  problem  was  to  scrimp  and  save  that  their 
children  might  attend  school  for  short  periods.  Now  the  prob¬ 
lem  is  to  find  sufficient  occupation  for  their  children.  Then  there 
were  long  hours  for  work  and  few  hours  for  school,  now  there  are 
long  hours  at  school  and  few  hours  for  work  with  no  work  to  do. 

But  childhood  must  be  occupied.  A  farmer  being  asked  how 
he  occupied  the  long  winter  evenings  on  the  farm,  replied:  “Wall, 
sometimes  I  set  and  think,  but  most  times  I  just  set.”  The 
normal  child  never  “just  sets.”  He  is  always  doing  something 
which  he  ought  to  do  or  something  which  he  ought  not  to  do. 
It  is  now  taxing  the  wits  of  his  parents  to  find  such  occupation  as 
he  ought  to  do  and  is  willing  to  do  with  the  minimum  amount  of 
compulsion. 

Hence,  now  the  parents’  problem,  in  the  last  analysis,  is  as 
much  a  problem  of  occupation  as  of  education. 

The  real  question,  therefore,  which  my  subject  presents,  is — 
How,  under  the  present  economic  conditions  in  the  cities,  can 
childhood  be  profitably  occupied?  I  would  lay  especial  stress  on 
the  word  “profitably,”  because  the  years  of  childhood  embrace 
about  a  quarter  of  the  years  of  the  average  lifetime  which  is 
altogether  too  large  a  part  to  be  wasted. 

Under  the  rule,  the  principle  of  which  is  now  recognized,  and 
as  the  years  roll  by  will  be  more  and  more  fully  established,  that 
child  labor  shall  not  be  used  in  productive  occupations,  it  is 

[Page  3] 


evident  that  profits  of  childhood  occupations  cannot  be  immedi¬ 
ately  available.  Under  these  conditions  the  only  compensation, 
which  such  occupations  can  obtain,  is  physical  and  mental  devel¬ 
opment  that  amounts  to  latent  capital  stored  in  the  body  and 
mind  of  each  child  which  will  become  available  in  mature  years. 
And  as  the  experience  of  the  ages  proves  that  perhaps  ninety  per 
cent  of  all  the  children  who  are  born,  must,  as  adults,  gain  a 
livelihood  by  physical  labor,  it  is  no  disparagement  of  the  value 
of  the  education  now  imparted  in  our  schools,  to  say  that  latent 
capital  stored  up  in  a  fully  developed  physique  is  of  as  great 
economic  value  as  the  school  education.  But  such  a  comparison, 
although  in  a  sense  true,  is  inconsequential,  because  developed 
muscle  without  the  brain  to  direct  and  developed  brain  without 
the  physique  to  support,  are  equally  impotent. 

The  production  of  a  sound  body,  acting  in  conjunction  with 
a  sound  mind,  is  the  true  goal  of  childhood  occupation.  This  is 
the  only  goal  worth  considering.  It  produces  the  best  economic 
results,  the  best  manhood  and  the  best  womanhood  and  the  best 
citizenship.  Therefore  the  development  of  the  body  and  of  the 
brain  should  be  carried  together,  step  by  step  and  hand  in  hand. 

In  order  to  reach  this  goal,  childhood  occupations  must  be 
systematically  arranged  and  conducted  under  competent  super¬ 
vision  and  control.  Up  to  the  present  time,  this  supervision 
and  control  has  been  divided.  The  State,  through  the  public 
schools,  has  undertaken  the  mental  development  of  all  the  children 
and  each  individual  parent  the  physical  development  of  his  own. 
The  part  assumed  by  the  schools  has  been  systematized  and  carried 
on  under  a  general  plan;  the  part  reserved  to  the  parents  has 
been  conducted  without  system. 

The  City  Schools  have  undertaken  the  task  of  furnishing  and 
supervising  the  occupation  of  all  the  children  above  the  age  of 
five  years,  for  about  half  of  the  time,  in  such  studies  as  are  sup¬ 
posed  to  develop  and  discipline  the  mind.  The  system  consists 
of  dividing  the  children  into  twelve  grades,  the  division  being 
based  primarily  on  age.  Then  an  extensive  range  of  topics  is 
divided  into  twelve  courses  of  study  adapted  to  the  respective 
grades,  each  being  made  sufficient  to  occupy  the  pupils  for  one 
school  year. 

One  of  the  fundamental  faults  of  the  system  consists  in  ignor¬ 
ing  the  differing  capacities  of  both  pupils  and  teachers.  The 
system  undertakes  to  compel  some  pupils  to  study  branches  of 
learning  which  they  have  no  capacity  to  comprehend  and  to 

[Page  4] 


compel  teachers,  well  qualified  to  teach  certain  subjects,  to  give 
instruction  in  other  branches  which  they  do  not  comprehend  and 
therefore  can  only  teach  in  a  prefunctory  and  meaningless  manner. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  system  is  that  the  schools  fail  to 
maintain  the  full  attendance  because  children  cannot  be  coaxed 
nor  compelled  to  study  for  consecutive  years,  subjects  which  they 
have  no  capacity  to  understand.  I  have  seen  statistics  to  the 
effect  that  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  children  of  school  ages  are 
truants  all  the  time,  and  it  is  a  known  fact  that  only  about  twenty 
per  cent  enter  the  High  Schools  and  about  five  per  cent  graduate. 

What  is  the  remedy? 

Years  ago,  at  the  beginning  of  the  larger  financial  transac¬ 
tions  with  which  the  present  generation  is  so  familiar,  a  bank 
was  organized  in  New  York  City  with  what  was  then  considered 
an  enormous  capital.  A  customer  asked  for  a  loan  of  $500,000. 
The  directors  scrutinized  the  collateral  and  pronounced  it  ample. 
They  admitted  that  the  bank  had  the  money  and  would  like  to 
take  the  loan  but  its  size  staggered  them  and  the  loan  was  re¬ 
fused.  With  disgust,  the  customer  replied:  “It  seems  to  me 
this  bank  needs  one  of  two  acts.  It  either  needs  an  Act  of  the 
Legislature  to  reduce  the  capital  to  the  capacity  of  the  directors 
or  an  Act  of  God  to  increase  their  capacity.” 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  schools  are  in  the  same  fix.  They 
need  either  an  act  of  the  authorities  to  adapt  the  curriculum  to 
the  varying  capacities  of  the  children,  or  an  Act  of  God  to  even 
up  these  capacities. 

The  antiquated  but  impossible  theory  of  uniform  all-around 
scholarship  must  be  abandoned.  The  theory  of  universal  quali¬ 
fication  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  for  judges,  sena¬ 
tors,  doctors,  lawyers,  preachers,  or  even  Captains  of  Industry  is 
too  absurd,  when  everybody  knows  that  the  vast  majority  have 
scant  capacity  to  become  intelligent  “hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water”  where  they  will  finally  land.  The  true  func¬ 
tion  of  the  public  school  is  to  develop  such  capacity  as  each 
pupil  possesses.  The  work  of  the  public  schools  should  be  re¬ 
garded,  primarily  and  essentially  as  an  occupation  of  childhood 
akin  to  an  apprenticeship  to  actual  adult  occupations.  It 
would  seem  that,  if  the  theory  and  practice  of  all  the  livelihood 
occupations  should  find  an  optional  place  in  the  curriculum  of 
the  schools  and  the  classes  arranged  in  respect  to  subjects  and 
individual  capacities,  it  would  have  a  tendency  to  make  the 
schools  attractive  to  all  classes  and  to  retain  the  attendance  of 


most  of  the  children  who  are  now  truants,  as  well  as  the  much 
larger  numbers  who  quit  at  the  end  of  each  grade  above  the  fifth 
because  both  the  pupils  and  parents  feel  that,  under  the  circum¬ 
stances,  longer  attendance  would  be  unprofitable. 

This  theory  is  confirmed  by  experience.  The  first  twelve 
year  course  of  study  was  built  along  the  lines  of  ancient  prece¬ 
dents,  consisting  of  two  or  three  years  of  elementary  work,  sup¬ 
plemented  with  the  remaining  years  devoted  to  the  study  of 
higher  mathematics,  Latin,  Greek  and  modern  languages.  This 
course,  beyond  the  few  years  of  elementary  work,  did  not  appeal 
to  the  majority  of  parents  as  profitable  occupation  for  childhood. 
It  did  not  interest  more  than  a  small  fraction  of  the  children,  and 
had  it  been  continued  until  the  present  time,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  higher  grades  and  the  High  School,  would  be  practically 
vacant. 

The  field  of  subjects  was  enlarged  by  introducing  more  inter¬ 
esting  and  practical  topics,  including  the  ipechanic  arts. 

It  appears  that  the  introduction  of  the  courses  in  Mechanic 
Arts  has  been  an  important  factor  in  retaining  the  boys  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades  and  in  the  High  School.  I  am  told 
that  more  than  half  of  the  boys  of  the  High  School  of  my  home 
city,  St.  Paul,  are  pursuing  this  course. 

For  the  same  reason,  it  is  my  conviction  that  the  addition  of 
a  practical  course  in  agriculture  would  be  greeted  with  even  greater 
satisfaction  by  larger  numbers,  because  it  would  interest  the  girls 
as  well  as  the  boys. 

Children’s  minds  are  not  all  cast  in  the  same  mould.  Some 
are  interested  in  mechanics,  some  are  not.  Many  who  are  not 
interested  in  making  things  would  be  interested  in  growing 
things.  The  farm  schools  for  children  in  the  Parks  of  New  York 
City,  under  the  patronage  of  the  New  York  University,  have 
become  very  popular  and  command  an  attendance  to  the  full 
capacity  of  the  space  at  command. 

The  kindergarten  methods  of  instruction  are  used  with  the 
younger  children.  Each  child  is  allotted  a  small  plot  four  by 
eight  feet.  The  heavy  work,  like  spading,  is  done  by  others, 
but  under  the  supervision  of  instructors  the  seeds  are  planted 
and  cared  for  by  the  children  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  regarded 
as  play.  As  the  children  grow  older,  and  stronger,  the  whole 
work  is  done  by  them  and  the  size  of  the  lots  increased.  It  is 
said  “That  the  average  child  of  ten  years  can  do  all  the  work 
under  a  teacher  who  makes  it  enjoyable.”  In  these  gardens,  in 


[Page  6] 


the  New  York  City  Parks,  children  raise  all  the  standard  crops, 
forty  varieties  of  vegetables  and  fifty  varieties  of  flowers. 

I  do  not  advocate  adding  instruction  in  agriculture  as  a  mere 
appendage  to  the  present  curriculum  or  that  such  instruction 
shall  consist  only  in  the  actual  cultivation  of  small  garden  lots 
which,  as  I  understand,  is  the  extent  of  the  instruction  in  the 
New  York  City  farm  garden  schools.  It  is  my  conviction  that 
the  first  three  or  four  grade-years  of  the  public  school  should  be 
devoted  to  a  thorough  drill  in  the  good  old  fashioned  “Three-R’s- 
Course”  and  thereafter  the  specialization  should  commence. 
That  beginning  with  (say)  the  Fifth  Grade,  a  separate  seven  or 
eight  year  course  of  study  devoted  to  agriculture  and  the  under¬ 
lying  and  collateral  branches  of  learning  which  are  involved  in 
successful  agriculture,  should  be  installed. 

There  was  a  time,  not  so  many  years  ago,  when  such  a  prop¬ 
osition  would  have  been  laughed  at.  I  remember  that  when  the 
Minnesota  State  Agricultural  College,  which  is  now  doing  such 
grand  work  in  teaching  even  experienced  farmers  how  to  farm, 
the  first  course  of  study  was  the  orthodox  college  course,  princi¬ 
pally  Greek  and  Latin.  When  the  apparent  absurdity  of  ac¬ 
quiring  a  knowledge  of  agriculture  by  studying  the  dead  lan¬ 
guages  was  pointed  out,  the  learned  president  said:  “If  a  boy 
wants  to  learn  farming,  let  him  hire  out  to  a  farmer.” 

But  the  agricultural  colleges  have  since  discovered  that  the 
range  of  Nature’s  laws  constituting  the  science  of  agriculture  is 
a  field  sufficiently  large  to  make  up  a  course  of  study  covering  a 
lifetime.  It  has  thus  been  demonstrated  that  it  is  possible  to 
make  up  a  course  of  study  for  eight  or  ten  years  of  school  occu¬ 
pation. 

The  successful  teaching  of  the  natural  laws  will  require  the 
land  for  illustrations  and  practical  demonstrations.  Sufficient 
land  should  be  available,  so  that  at  the  beginning  of  each  season 
a  plot  could  be  assigned  to  the  exclusive  use  of  each  pupil.  This 
would  introduce  the  pleasure  which  arises  from  competition  and 
would  awaken  ambitions.  In  this  competition  there  could  be 
no  dodging,  “cribbing”  or  gainsaying,  as  infallible  Nature  would 
keep  the  record  which  would  show  in  what  measure  the  study  in 
the  abstract  has  been  comprehended.  Every  branch — field 
culture,  garden  culture,  horticulture,  floriculture  and  forestry — 
should  be  practically  demonstrated,  not  by  looking  at  the  work 
of  others  but  by  cultivation  carried  on  by  the  pupils.  The  public 
parks  could  easily  afford  the  land  for  the  crop  planting.  I  can 

[Page  7] 


think  of  no  more  profitable  use  for  such  parks,  and  if  properly 
distributed,  skillfully  combined  with  other  ornamentation,  these 
experiment  plats  would  become  the  most  interesting  park  features 
of  the  city. 

In  the  last  years  of  the  course,  each  pupil  should  keep  a  set 
of  books  which  would  show  the  details  of  the  cost  of  his  crop 
and  the  amount  it  sold  for.  This  would  be  real  bookkeeping, 
recording  actual  transactions  instead  of  the  theoretical  book¬ 
keeping,  recording  the  imaginary  transactions  of  the  professional 
commercial  school  and  would  therefore  be  more  effective  in¬ 
struction. 

Also  in  the  senior  years,  physical  and  commercial  geography, 
relating  to  production,  distribution,  marketing  and  consumption 
would  become  interesting  and  profitable  studies. 

The  breeding  and  raising  of  domestic  animals  is  an  essential 
part  of  agriculture  and  should  be  embraced  in  the  curriculum 
but  I  am  unable  at  present,  to  say  how  practical  demonstration 
could  be  made. 

The  advantages  of  such  a  course  of  study  are  manifold. 
Agriculture  is  the  most  important  industry,  the  basis  of  all  in¬ 
dustries  and  is  especially  the  basis  of  the  prosperity  of  the  West. 
Its  study  opens  up,  both  in  its  direct  and  collateral  branches,  a 
wide  field  of  interesting  and  useful  knowledge,  both  for  boys  and 
for  girls.  It  brings  the  student  in  direct  contact  with  Nature 
and  Nature’s  laws  that  can  only  be  mastered  by  observing, 
thinking  and  obeying. 

Much  of  the  instruction  would  be  given  in  the  open  air  and 
the  sunshine,  thus  providing  moderate  exercise  for  a  large  class 
of  children  whose  physical  condition  does  not  permit  of  the 
strenuous  exercises  of  the  gynmasium.  It  would  therefore  be  of 
special  benefit  to  that  large  class  of  children  who  grow  stoop 
shouldered,  pale  faced,  narrow  chested  and  nervous  by  reason 
of  sitting  over  desks  in  crowded  rooms  and  vitiated  atmospheres 
of  the  school  houses. 

It  would  inculcate  in  many  a  love  and  knowledge  of  farming 
which  would  induce  and  enable  many  city  born  and  bred  men 
and  women,  to  seek  an  independent  livelihood  from  the  cultiva¬ 
tion  of  the  land  and  thus  lessen  the  congestion  of  population  in 
the  cities. 

It  would  impart  a  knowledge  of  the  way  to  make  a  city  lot 
productive  of  garden  vegetables  which  would  contribute  to  the 
household  expenses  of  those  who  receive  small  wages. 

[Page  5] 


Students  of  the  Horticulture  College  in  Swanley,  England, 
at  work  in  their  gardens 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/shalltheoreticalOOstic 


It  would  teach  the  wives  how  to  make  their  homes  more 
attractive  with  lawns,  plantings  and  flowers.  Such  ornamenta¬ 
tion  is  woman’s  wrork. 

There  are  schools  in  England  devoted  solely  to  the  instruc¬ 
tion  of  women  in  horticulture  and  kindred  subjects. 

Many  of  the  graduates  of  these  schools  are  now  filling  posi¬ 
tions  of: 

Landscape  Gardeners, 

Advising  and  Visiting  Gardeners, 

Head  Gardeners, 

Teachers  of  Nature  Study, 

Market  Gardeners, 

Poultry  Keepers, 

Research  Workers, 

Bee  Experts, 

Instructors  and  Lecturers  of  Gardening,  Etc. 

Thus  wTould  instruction  in  agriculture  open  to  American 
Womanhood  new  careers  of  industry,  more  profitable,  more  dig¬ 
nified,  more  in  harmony  with  true  womanhood,  than  domestic 
service,  commercial  clerkships  or  office  typewriters,  or  even  the 
round  of  “teas  and  bridges”  during  the  years  preceding  mar¬ 
riage,  and  if  continued  after  marriage  would  furnish  pleasant 
occupation  for  otherwise  idle  hours. 

That  the  parents  and  pupils  would  receive  such  a  course  with 
enthusiasm  and  the  wonderful  results  which  would  be  obtained 
has  been  demonstrated  by  experiments  which  have  been  con¬ 
ducted  by  the  Agricultural  Department  at  Washington. 

About  two  or  three  years  ago,  the  department  organized  the 
Boys  Corn  Raising  Club  in  some  of  the  southern  states.  In  the 
first  year  only  a  few  hundred  wrere  enrolled,  but  in  the  second 
year,  1910,  46,225  southern  lads,  ranging  from  eleven  to  sixteen 
years  of  age,  contested  for  the  prizes. 

The  story  of  the  achievements  of  these  boys  reads  like  a 
fairy  tale.  Each  boy  cultivated  one  acre.  Jerry  H.  Moore,  of 
South  Carolina,  fifteen  years  old,  produced  on  his  prize  acre,  228 
bushels  of  shelled  corn,  a  record  which  has  been  excelled  but  once 
in  the  history  of  corn  raising  and  then  only  by  two  bushels. 
The  average  yield  in  South  Carolina  was  about  fifteen  bushels 
per  acre.  Jerry  Moore’s  yield  was  fifteen  times  the  average. 

So  great  has  been  the  enthusiasm,  that  Earl  Hopping  of 
Rogers,  Ark.,  a  stripling  of  fourteen  years,  won  his  laurels  by 
surmounting  seemingly  impossible  difficulties.  He  prepared  and 

[Page  9] 


planted  his  acre,  using  his  father’s  one  span  of  mules.  Then 
crop  troubles  came  on  and  his  father  told  him  he  could  not  have 
the  use  of  the  mules  any  more,  and  Earl  was  up  against  it  in  the 
matter  of  cultivating  his  corn.  Most  boys  would  have  quit  then 
and  there,  but  Earl  had  a  different  sort  of  stuff  in  him.  He  had 
a  team  of  goats  and  he  rigged  up  a  small  cultivator  from  parts 
of  a  discarded  machine.  With  that  outfit  he  cultivated  his  acre, 
and  husbanded  it  to  such  an  advantage  that  it  yielded  fifty 
bushels — three  times  the  average  corn  yielded  for  the  State  of 
Arkansas. 

The  boys  who  join  the  club  are  given  scientific  instruction  by 
a  government  demonstrator.  During  the  winter  and  early 
spring  months,  they  study  farm  problems  in  books  from  the 
government’s  traveling  libraries  and  they  are  given  practical 
demonstrations  on  experimental  acres.  Each  one  cultivates  a 
single  acre.  He  may  get  it  free  from  his  father  or  he  may  rent 
it,  but  he  must  charge  a  certain  rental  as  expense  in  reckoning 
his  profit.  He  must  select  his  own  seed,  fertilize  and  plow  the 
ground,  plant  and  cultivate  the  crop,  and  finally  harvest  it  and 
select  and  arrange  his  own  samples  from  which  the  quality  of  his 
corn  is  to  be  judged.  He  must  keep  books  carefully,  and  be  able 
to  show  exactly  what  his  crop  cost  according  to  the  government’s 
standards.  The  value  of  the  crop  is  fixed  by  the  government  at 
$1.00  per  bushel,  but  the  boys  usually  get  more,  as  their  corn  is 
in  great  demand. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  work  of  these  boys,  directly  and 
indirectly  added  more  than  79,000,000  bushels,  valued  at  $62,- 
500,000.00  to  the  corn  crop  of  the  Southern  States  in  1910. 

Who  will  say  that  Agricultural  Schools  are  not  worth  establish¬ 
ing. 


I  Page  10] 


Let  us  now  consider  the  physical  development  of  childhood. 

The  public  schools  devote  their  efforts  entirely  to  the  devel¬ 
opment  and  the  discipline  of  the  mind  and  while  much  is  done  to 
improve  the  sanitary  conditions  surrounding  the  confinement, 
they  take  no  responsibility  in  regard  to  the  development  of  the 
physique. 

The  children  enter  the  crowded  school  rooms  at  nine  o’clock 
in  the  morning  and,  with  slight  intermissions,  sit  at  desks  in 
vitiated  atmospheres  until  four  o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  making 
six  long  hours  of  confinement.  But  this  is  not  the  whole  story. 
The  course  of  study  is  so  swift  that  even  the  brightest  minds  can 
only  keep  up  the  pace  by  spending  other  hours  in  confined  study 
at  home. 

How  much  penalty  the  physique  of  the  rising  generation  is 
paying  by  reason  of  such  confinement,  has  been  little  studied  or 
discussed.  In  the  last  few  years,  science  has  made  wonderful 
discoveries  as  to  the  dangers  growing  out  of  the  germs  of  disease 
which  lurk  in  crowded  tenement  houses,  in  dusty  streets  and  in 
filthy  barns,  but  no  special  study  has  been  made  as  to  the  dan¬ 
gers  which  lurk  in  twelve  years’  confinement  in  the  public  school 
rooms.  There  has  been  no  meter  devised  which  can  measure 
and  record  the  loss  of  vitality  which  is  due  to  such  confinement. 
But  the  pale  faces,  the  narrow  chests  and  the  stooping  and  lop¬ 
sided  shoulders  of  many  pupils  almost  inclines  one  to  believe 
that  the  confinement  of  the  public  schools,  while  not  resulting  so 
often  in  immediate  death,  is  as  detrimental  to  the  pleasures  of 
living  and  as  dangerous  to  the  vitality  of  the  race  as  all  the 
“bugs”  which  science  has  discovered. 

What  is  the  remedy? 

My  own  limited  study  and  observation  convinces  me  that 
three  or  four  hours  per  day  is  all  that  should  be  devoted  to  such 
confinement  and  that  the  balance  of  the  traditional  six  hour 
school  day  should  be  occupied  in  the  practice  of  domestic  sciences, 
mechanic  arts,  agriculture  and  such  subjects  as  require  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  the  muscles  as  well  as  the  brain. 

But  such  moderate  muscular  exercise  is  insufficient.  The 
proper  development  of  the  physique  requires  many  hours  of  each 

[Page  11] 


day  devoted  to  systematic  physical  exercise,  tempered  in  respect 
to  strenuosity  to  the  physical  condition  of  each  child  and  properly 
supervised.  Besides  the  hours  after  school  must  be  occupied. 

In  former  days  and  perhaps  even  now  in  the  country,  there  is 
work  to  be  performed  and  chores  to  be  done  sufficient  to  occupy 
the  time,  and  to  maintain  the  physique.  This  is  no  longer  the 
case  in  cities.  The  people  who  live  in  flats  or  on  city  lots,  have 
absolutely  no  chores  to  be  done  or  other  work  for  their  children 
to  perform.  The  question  what  to  do  with  the  children  after 
school  hours  is  puzzling  the  brains  of  all  thoughtful  parents. 
The  problem  increases  in  difficulties  as  the  children  grow  older; 
in  accordance  with  the  German  adage  ‘Tittle  children,  little 
troubles — big  children,  big  troubles.” 

The  obvious  answer  is:  Let  them  play.  It  is  an  answer 
easier  said  than  done.  A  gentleman  said  to  me:  “I  live  on  a 
fifty  foot  lot.  I  have  two  boys  who  go  to  school  and  when  they 
get  home  they  want  to  play.  There  is  no  room  on  my  lot  so 
they  take  to  the  street.  In  a  few  minutes  they  are  joined  by 
others.  Naturally  they  make  a  noise.  Then  my  neighbor  tele¬ 
phones  for  a  policeman.” 

But  want  of  space  is  only  part  of  the  difficulty.  The  child 
cannot  play  alone.  It  must  have  associates.  The  lone  child 
will  only  mope  or  walk  the  busy  streets,  observing  the  crowds, 
the  shop  windows  and  the  fakers,  or  visit  the  moving  picture 
shows,  the  pool  rooms,  etc. 

Experience  also  proves  that,  under  parental  supervision,  or 
rather  lack  of  supervision,  many  of  the  boys  will  take  no  phy¬ 
sical  exercise,  but,  forming  gangs,  they  will  occupy  their  time 
in  caves  and  deserted  shacks,  smoking  cigarettes,  playing  cards 
and  bandits  and  all  kinds  of  kindred  vices.  Under  present  con¬ 
ditions,  what  parent  knows  or  can  ascertain  who  his  children’s 
associates  are,  what  they  are  doing  or  where  they  rendezvous 
after  school  hours. 

I  am  told  that  more  than  half  of  the  attendance  of  the  after¬ 
noon  performances  of  the  dime  theatres  and  moving  picture  shows 
consists  of  unattended  school  girls. 

But  how  can  the  mother,  tied  to  her  household  cares  and  her 
social  duties,  supervise  the  out-of-door  health  giving  play  of  her 
daughters?  How  can  the  fathers,  tied  to  their  desks,  their 
lathes  or  their  shovels,  supervise  the  play  of  their  sons? 

It  is  my  contention  that  every  argument  which  justifies  the 
public,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  schools,  in  the  super- 

[Page  12] 


Wholesome  Environment  for  Growing  Children 

York  City  Department  of  Parks,  Children’s  School  Farm,  DeWitt  Clinton  Park,  54th  Street  and  11th  Avenue.  Space  250x135  feet, 
affording  pleasure  and  profit  annually  to  3,500  children  and  adults. 


vision  of  the  education  of  the  mind,  applies  with  equal  force  in 
favor  of  a  like  supervision  of  the  physical  development  of  child¬ 
hood.  The  strongest  of  these  arguments  is  necessity.  The 
individual  parent  has  theoretical  jurisdiction  of  the  play  of  his 
own  children.  But  for  reasons  already  stated,  he  has  no  means 
of  exercising  it.  And,  as  to  his  neighbor’s  children,  who  must 
join  in  the  play,  he  has  not  even  theoretical  jurisdiction.  Hence 
parental  supervision  of  childhood  play  is  impossible. 

This  impossibility  creates  the  necessity  for  public  supervision 
through  some  instrumentality  like  the  schools  and  as  physical 
and  mental  education  are  kindred  and  contemporaneous  occu¬ 
pations,  it  seems  desirable  that  both  should  be  carried  on  by  one 
and  the  same  general  management. 

The  necessity  for  organized  supervision  of  childhood  plays 
has  found  expression  in  the  “children’s  playgrounds,”  equipped 
with  gymnastic  apparatus  and  more  recently  in  the  Boy  Scout 
Movement.  Both  of  these  movements  have  been  received  with 
favor  by  children  and  by  parents.  But  the  physical  develop¬ 
ment  of  childhood  requires  more.  It  requires  a  curriculum 
covering  the  whole  field  of  sports,  wisely  planned  and  system¬ 
atically  conducted,  day  by  day,  under  intelligent  supervision, 
paid  by  the  public  and  coupled  with  an  authority  derived  from 
the  law,  equal  at  least,  to  that  now  conferred  upon  the  public 
schools  in  respect  to  the  mental  development. 

Voluntary  efforts,  like  the  boy  scout  organization,  only  reach 
the  volunteers.  It  does  not  reach  the  lazy  and  the  mopes  who 
most  need  physical  exercise.  Physical  exercise,  both  for  boys 
and  girls,  should  be  tempered  to  the  physical  capacity  of  each 
child  and  should  be  carried  on  winter  and  summer  as  far  as 
practicable  in  the  open  air.  Records  should  be  kept  of  the  tardy 
attendance  and  the  non-attendance  of  each  pupil  and  promptly 
notified  to  the  parents  and  the  truant  officers. 

If  practical  agriculture  and  physical  development  is  added 
to  the  curriculum  of  the  public  schools,  the  public  must  furnish 
sufficient  fields  to  cultivate  and  ample  playgrounds. 

As  chairman  of  the  Citizens  Committee  to  plan  a  compre¬ 
hensive  system  of  parks  for  the  City  of  St.  Paul,  I  commenced, 
some  months  ago,  the  study  of  park  problems.  I  found  that  the 
city  already  possessed  about  1400  acres  of  parks  and  several 
small  playgrounds  of  about  one  acre  each,  adjacent  to  public 
school  houses.  I  also  found  that,  to  secure  for  the  use  of  the 
public  all  the  remaining  natural  features  of  beauty  in  the  city, 

[Page  13] 


would  require  the  addition  of  about  four  thousand  acres.  The 
question  occurred:  Can  some  of  these  acres  be  made  economi¬ 
cally  useful? 

Seeking  for  information,  I  found  a  book  entitled  “Children’s 
Gardens  for  Pleasure,  Health  and  Education,”  by  Henry  G. 
Parsons,  Director  of  the  Department  of  School  Gardens,  New 
York  University 

From  this  work  I  found  that  considerable  areas  in  the  New 
York  City  Parks  are  devoted  to  “Children’s  Gardens,”  which, 
the  author  says,  “are  places  where  children  grow  vegetables  and 
flowers  under  the  guidance  of  persons  trained  to  show  them 
Nature’s  laws  in  operation  and  at  the  same  time  show  them  how 
to  apply  the  knowledge  of  these  laws  in  the  work  and  observa¬ 
tions  of  life.” 

These  garden  schools  wTere  started  on  a  vacant  lot  by  a  woman 
and  a  mother  Later  they  were  transferred  to  the  parks  under 
the  control  of  the  Park  Commission  and  still  later,  the  manage¬ 
ment  was  turned  over  to  the  University  cf  New  York. 

I  next  examined  the  Children’s  Playgrounds  adjacent  to  the 
school  houses  of  St.  Paul. 

Each  of  these  are  equipped  with  small  gymnastic  apparatus. 
They  are,  in  a  way,  under  the  control  and  supervision  of  a  nonde¬ 
script  playgrounds  committee  which  is  an  adjunct  to  the  Park 
Commission.  The  school  teachers  and  authorities  have  no  con¬ 
trol  or  connection,  whatever,  with  them.  Besides,  these  play¬ 
grounds  are  too  small  to  permit  of  any  comprehensive  system  of 
physicial  education. 

These  two  points  of  view  have  induced  me  to  plan  a  com¬ 
posite  agricultural  school  and  physical  development  park,  which 
I  shall  urge  the  city  to  adopt. 

The  park  contains  140  acres,  23  acres  for  experimental  farm 
and  garden  plots,  40  acres  for  floraculture  and  forestry,  a  south¬ 
ern  slope  of  18  acres  for  the  cultivation  of  fruit  trees  and  fruit 
bearing  shrubs,  and  still  another  slope  of  eight  acres  for  vineyard 
culture,  thus  affording  opportunity  for  practical  work  in  every 
branch  of  field  agriculture.  It  also  contains  a  40  acre  athletic 
field,  large  enough  for  the  full  curriculum  of  physical  develop¬ 
ment.  The  whole  park  should  be  substantially  fenced  and 
bordered  on  all  sides  with  trees  and  shrubs. 


[Page  lit ] 


Map  of  a  farm  school  and  physical  development  park  as  planned  by  the  author 


» 


“  Twenty-three  acres  for  experimental  farm  and  garden  plots^ — at  rest 


“Farm  and  garden  'plots' ’ — at  work 


■ 


A  combination  School  and  Athletic  Building 


► 


Main  Floor  of  the  Main  Building 


% 


Younger  Pupils’  School  House  with  Wide  Veranda  inside  the  Protection  of  the 
Farm  Garden  Fence. 


f 


The  Wide  Veranda  of  thcYonnger  Pupils’  School  House 


» 


* 


f 

l 


b 


9 


% 


The  park  would  also  contain  a  combination  school  and  ath¬ 
letic  building.  This  building  is  unique  in  both  design  and  purpose. 

The  ground  floor  has  a  large  hall,  flanked  on  each  side  by 
bath  and  toilet  rooms  and  by  large  working  greenhouses,  and  at 
the  end  a  conservatory  in  which  to  exhibit  the  best  results  of  all 
the  agricultural  work.  There  are  bath,  toilet,  library,  agricul¬ 
tural  museum  and  laboratory  rooms. 

In  the  second  story  which  covers  only  a  part  of  the  first  story, 
there  are  class  and  study  rooms  for  the  older  pupils. 

The  great  hall  with  the  bath  and  toilet  rooms,  in  connection 
with  the  athletic  fields,  would  afford  ample  accommodations  for 
the  physical  development  department  and  during  the  evenings 
it  would  afford  an  opportunity  for  lectures,  concerts,  dancing 
and  other  amusements,  not  only  for  the  pupils  of  the  school  but 
for  all  the  people,  both  old  and  young.  Unlike  the  school  houses 
which  are  in  use  only  six  hours  per  day  during  only  200  days  in 
each  year,  I  would  keep  this  building  open  and  busy  from  eight 
o’clock  in  the  morning  until  ten  o’clock  at  night  for  365  days  in 
the  year.  A  lodge  for  the  residence  of  the  physical  director  would 
be  built  inside  the  gate  of  the  farm  garden  tract  and  in  proximity 
to  the  main  building. 

Inside  the  protection  of  the  farm  garden  fence  on  the  north 
side  of  the  field,  for  the  use  of  the  younger  pupils,  I  would  build 
rows  of  one-story  school  houses  with  wide  verandas  facing  the 
south,  accessible  to  the  cool  southern  breezes  of  the  summer 
months  and  protected  from  the  cold  northern  winds  of  winter, 
so  that,  during  all  the  sunny  days,  the  children  could  pursue  their 
studies  in  the  open  air  of  the  verandas,  retreating  to  the  enclosed 
rooms  only  during  the  inclement  days. 

The  land  constituting  this  park,  although  surrounded  by 
population  and  easily  accessible,  is  unoccupied.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  plant  would  accommodate  2,000  to  2,500jpupils,  and  it  is 
also  estimated  that  the  land  and  improvements  together  would 
cost  about  one-half  per  pupil  of  the  cost  of  the  high  schools  of 
the  city. 

I  have  tamely  and  inadequately  presented  my  subject. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  conserving  the  naW 
ural  resources  of  the  country.  A  great  National  conservation 
'  congress,  composed  of  thousands  of  delegates  from  all  sections, 

I  has  been  held  in  St.  Paul.  It  was  addressed  by  the  President  of 
!  the  United  States,  by  the  Ex-President,  by  governors  of  states, 
senators,  congressmen,  scholars  and  captains  of  industry.  The 

[Page  15] 


3  0112 


062264970 


conservation  of  coal,  forests,  water,  credits,  and  fertility  of  soil 
was  discussed.  But  the  conservation  of  the  greatest  resource  of 
the  Nation,  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  children,  in  fact  the 
conservation  of  the  future  American  Citizen  and  the  human  race 
itself,  was  given  no  prominence. 

I  am  advocating  this  greatest  of  all  conservations. 


